"Robert Pilot was born in St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1898. At the age of 12 he moved to Montréal with his mother, on the occasion of her marriage to renowned artist Maurice Cullen. It was due to his step-father's influence that young Robert's interest in art began to grow. In his teenage years he would often help Cullen in his studio. They took frequent sketching trips in the surrounding countryside. Soon Pilot moved on to study under William Brymner, at the Art Association of Montréal School of Fine Arts, and then to Paris, where he enrolled at the Académie Julian in 1920. By the time he returned home two years later his paintings had been exhibited in the Parisian Salon. Although his work was included in their first exhibition, Robert Pilot was one of three artists who declined to join the Group of Seven upon its formation in 1920. He loved painting images of Canada and its people, but did not share the Group's adoration of its savage wilderness. Pilot painted Québec's snow-covered vistas and habitant farmers for the majority of his artistic life. He travelled extensively through France, Italy, Spain, Morocco, and England but never made his home outside of Québec. He served Canada in both World Wars and was promoted to officer during the Italian Campaign of WWII. Besides J.W. Morrice and his step-father, Pilot most admired the life and work of French artist, Camille Pissarro. He was made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1934 and served as its President from 1952-54. By 1943 Pilot had started to teach art at the Montréal Art Association School of Fine Arts. He continued to be an integral part of the city's art scene until his death in 1967."

"Samuel W. Griggs was listed as an architect in the Boston City directory from 1848 to 1852 and as an artist from 1854 until his death. The competency of his work strongly suggests that he had professional training, and it is believed that he studied under Bierstadt before Bierstadt was well know. Griggs's earliest datable painting of a White Mountain scene is 1858. That year he exhibited three paintings, one of which was a White Mountain view (View on the Pemigewasset River), in an exhibition coordinated by Albert Bierstadt and held in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He also exhibited at the Boston Athenaeum from 1855 to 1863 as well as the Boston Art Club at various times. At the time of his death he was living at 63 Studio Building in Boston." "Because of the proximity of Boston to the White Mountains, artists from Boston were the predominate visitors to capture White Mountain views. Beginning with Benjamin Champney in 1838, and continuing through the 19th century, his friends and fellow artists traveled to the mountains. In 1854 these artists, including Francis Seth Frost (1825-1902), Alfred T. Ordway (1821-1897), Samuel Lancaster Gerry (1813-1891), and Samuel W. Griggs (1827-1898), were the founding members of the Boston Art Club, which for many years became a venue to view White Mountain paintings."

"Samuel Peter Rolt Triscott was a marine painter, photographer, and teacher. He was born in England where he studied both civil engineering and painting. While in London, he studied under Philip Mitchell and at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolors. He came to the United States in 1871 and settled in Boston. A specialist in watercolors, he became an influential teacher in this medium. He was a member of the Boston Art Club and the Boston Society of Watercolor Painters. During the 1880s and 1890s he exhibited paintings of a wide variety of New England subjects. He exhibited at the Boston Art Club (1880-1905), the American Watercolor Society (1898), the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1892-1893), the Brooklyn Art Association (1881-1882), and the Art Institute of Chicago (1889-1902). His last known address was Monhegan, ME where he settled in the 1890s. Triscott and William Claus made extensive use of artistic photography on Monhegan, providing the illustrations for A. G. Pettigill's article, Monhegan: Historical and Picturesque in New England Magazine, September, 1989. For the next two decades, Triscott commercially promoted and sold his photographs of the cliffs and surf of Monhegan.

About Me

Photo in Iceland, June 2014 - I enjoy dabbling with watercolors, oils and pencil sketching. Many years ago I minored in art at the University of Maine. More recently I took watercolor workshops with Susan Abbott in the Bahamas and Vermont (both 2015), David Dewey in Maine (2014, 2015, 2017), and another with Dewitt Hardy in Maine (2014). Before that I took an oil workshop with Carol Marine in Texas (2010). I'm a member of the Vermont Watercolor Society and the Plein Air Painters of Maine. I'm fortunate to have a successful career in children's' books, more than forty-five published with many honors and awards, illustrated with my photography and a few with the art of other fine artist friends.